Today ended up being so busy that I didn’t have time to eat before crossfit. It was..rough. But I not only got through it–I killllled it! Today was “1/2 Cindy,” with the full “Cindy” being a 20 minute AMRAP. I’ve only ever done both 1/2 and full Cindy way back when I was first starting, and I did the pull-ups with heavy assistance, and the push-ups on my knees. I crushed my previous scores today, and did it as prescribed!! So happy. I’m getting better about remembering to at least video my strength sets, but I need to start uploading the actual full videos, instead of taking clips from instagram haha. Baby steps! Also, the video cut off the lunges, which is probably for the best, because they were so ugly on each rep set!

Strength:

5 sets of 2x (1 Snatch + 2 Overhead Squats + 1 Back Rack Right Leg Lunge + 1 Back Rack Left Leg Lunge): 55-55-60-60-60. Omg. These were tough, but so awesome. I really like barbell complexes like this. I definitely limited myself a bit by starting at 55lbs. I’ll start heavier initially next time, because I think I could have done 2×60 and 3×65 if I had planned better. I’m getting more confident in the overhead position again, finally.

WOD for Rounds+Reps: 7+12, Rx.

“1/2 Cindy”

AMRAP for 10 Minutes of:

5 Pull-Ups: Rx.

10 Push-Ups: Rx.

15 Air Squats: Rx.

Limiting factor was absolutely push-ups. I burned out on them very quickly, and the last half were kind of wormy at times. But once I fatigued, I broke them into 5+3+2, and that helped a lot. But the pull-ups!!! The pull-ups!!!!!!!! I did so many sets of 5 unbroken!!!!!!! This is such a big deal. I think I only broke up 3 out of the 8 sets I did. I had so much trouble driving my car after this haha. So dead already.

Hay girl haaaaay another Wed/Thurs whambam week! I’m not feeling as sore the day after WODs anymore, which is really exciting. Slowly ramping up has been great, although I think today’s WOD just crushed the chances of getting in there tomorrow. We’ll see. I have a long evening of foam rolling and a hot epsom salt bath between now and then, so things still have the potential to change!

Strength:

Clean and Jerk 3-3-3-3-3: 85-85-85-85-85. Previously my 3-3-3 PR was 90lbs and I strugggggled for that, and today the 5 sets of 3 were totally manageable at only slightly below that. I’m fighting off a cold so I’m feeling slightly run down, but I was still hitting pretty solid form on my last set so that’s a good sign.

Oh and hey look, a video! The final rep of my last set.

WOD for Cals+Reps: 120, Rx.

5 Rounds of:

1 Minute Row (cal): Rx.

Rest 1 Minute

1 Minute AMRAP 5 Toes to Bar + 10 Air squats: Rx.

Rest 1 Minute

Score is row calories plus total TTB. Squats are not counted in the score.

This was miserableeeeee. I went out way too hard in the beginning, and after the second row my hamstring on my right leg locked up. This has happened in the past, but when I’m rowing regularly it doesn’t happen as frequently. I don’t think I’ve rowed in at least a month, so I almost went into this expecting it. I took round 3 easier and then slowly climbed back up. I could NOT stay on the pull-up bar to save my life today. I was barely getting 3 TTB strung together. I really need to work on my grip strength for hanging stuff, because I am strong enough in the body to handle more reps, but my hands just can’t take it and I’m constantly slightly scared of flying off the bar and breaking my life again. My splits went: 1: 17-10, 2: 16-8, 3: 12-10, 4: 13-10 5: 14-10. This was not in my wheelhouse at all, but my goal going into it was to hit 10 TTB per round and at least 13 cals per round, so I pretty much did that, minus the meltdown following the hamstring lockup in the rowing of round 2. This has been a tough week! I feel strong as all get out.

I really liked this!! Rx’d is 7 muscle ups. Ha! I was struggling with the pull-ups today. If they were kipping I would have killed it, but man, the strict business took it out of me. My goal was sub-10 min, so I was happy to fall in there. Steady/slow-ish on the squats, because I didn’t want to burn out after the first round.

I made a new fitness friend at school! She came to a free intro class at my crossfit box today and it was awesome. It was just a quick WOD with no strength, but after yesterday, my legs and back are toast so the mini rest day was much needed.

WOD for Reps: 384

4 Rounds of:

1 Minute of Air Squats: Rx.

1 Minute of Sit Ups: Rx.

1 Minute of Russian Kettlebell Swings: 53lbs, Rx?

1 Mintue of Rest: Rx, like a boss.

My rounds went 110-87-93-94. Went out way too hard on the first round, but finished strong..

Strength:

Strict Press 3-3-3-3-3: 55-55-60(f)-57.5(f)-55-55-55. Damn you, strict press!! Couldn’t budge from 55, no matter how much I tried. But, I did manage to do my full working set of 5×3 at 55lbs, which was better than the last time I did this rep scheme 3 weeks ago. I was able to press 55lbs 3 times for 3 sets, but failed on the fourth and had to back down for the last two. So I can’t complain too much! My lifting partner, who I’ve partnered up consistently with on Wednesdays for about a month now, gave me some really important advice on my form and it clicked and definitely helped in the last two sets. So happy. She also PR’d her press, which was awesome.

WOD for Time: 8:47

3 Rounds of:

Again, hanging tough with the big boys/girls! All ring dips were unbroken, which means I probably should have used a little less assistance, but my shoulders/triceps/lats/chest are so freaking sore from yesterday’s ring dips and KB swings! My air squats were all unbroken, and almost felt like active rest. The double unders made me do a happy dance at the end of the WOD. I strung together more than I ever have before in all three rounds, with one set going something along the lines of 1-33-26. So awesome. All three rounds I only broke the sets into 3, which is great. Progress!!! So awesome! I have a long way until I can do full ring dips, especially since they’re a pushing motion and I’m awful at that, but I am definitely getting so much stronger.

At the end of this month, I will be signing up for Patriot’s monthly membership again. I have high hopes that I will be able to keep this up during the semester, improving my fitness, and my wallet from not having to pay the drop-in rate every time!

Also, as an end note, I’d like to copy-and-paste some wisdom from the owner of Patriot Crossfit, Brian, who had an amazing blog post today about thinking of Crossfit/nutrition/sleep as chores versus thinking of them as fun and play time. Read on after the jump!

By the way, definitely had 7.11oz of free slurpee today in honor of 7/11. It was an awesome cheat and I have no regrets. I’ve eaten very well for the day/week and went to Crossfit today, so I’m not worried about it at all, and am actually happy I indulged. Take that, world! As long as it doesn’t become a habit, I am all about wisely-programmed cheattreats and rewards. In the wise words of Christmas Abbott: “I have to have my reward. If I eat well all week, I get my cupcake on Friday. That is how I operate.” Love it!

Strength:

Strict Press 5-5-5-5: 35-45-50(4)-50(3)-45. Lucky me, two days in a row of strength movements I strongly dislike! I could not get up to 5 reps at 50lbs. My shoulders are so gassed from yesterday’s push presses and single arm snatches, so I’m hoping next week to get 50 up and maybe even 55. Ambitious, but definitely possible!

WOD: 11:17

Have I explained that kind of WOD yet? It’s usually “21-15-9” but someone accidentally-on-purpose added an extra 18+12 reps in there. You start with the first movement, KB swings in this case, and do 21 reps. Then move to the second, air squats, and do 21 reps. Finish with 21 reps of the push press. Then, you move back to the KB swings and do 18 reps, 18 air squats, 18 push presses, and keep going until you’ve done the last set of 9 reps of each.

Or, if you’re awesome like me and totally can’t keep track of your shit during a workout, you end up doing the 12 round twice. Yes, I did that. I didn’t realize it until the very end of the push presses when I realized “hey, last round I did two sets of 6 also..and 12 KBs..and 12 air squats..SHIT.” But I really wanted to finish out by doing the 9 round, so I just went for it and decided that the extra round wouldn’t kill me. And it didn’t, yay!

The KB swings were awesome and I did every set unbroken, all to full extension. The air squats were air squats and I really focused on not letting my knees buckle in towards the center when I got tired, which is a really bad habit I have that gave me knee pain last time I did them (none from today, yay again!). The push presses felt really easy throughout the workout, mainly because I was really driving the weight up super hard every time, but now my traps and shoulders are smokedddd. I think I could have added another 5lbs, but right as I had that thought the clock started. Great workout and hoping I won’t be too sore to go tomorrow as well.

3 minutes Push-Ups: this is SO IMPORTANT for everyone to watch a video on proper push-up form. I almost never see people go all the way chest-to-deck. I will do a full write up on this at some point.

2 minutes Kettlebell Swings: first time doing KB swings full-range since tweaking my back a month or so back!

1 minute Pull-Ups

Looks easy enough, right? WROOOOONG. Man, by the end of the first 5 minutes my shoulders were completely SHOT from the HSPUs. The air squats were a welcome “active rest” period, the push-ups were completely awful due to the HSPUs previously, the KB swings were great and I felt very strong using my hips as the driving force, and the pull-ups just about killed me. For the HSPUs, as I previously stated, I went to negatives and a hold. HSPUs: 25 + one 45 second handstand hold, air squats: 105, push-ups: 15 strict + 35 knees when form failed, for total of 50, kettlebell swings with 12kg/24lb: 48, pull-ups: a good ol’ whoppin’ 6, but they were unassisted.

So, how do you run a total for this? I guess adding everything without the hold, my total was 234. It was a quick, 15min workout that completely rocked my shoulders and quads. Pretty great! Tomorrow is Crossfit Carteret’s open house, and I’m hoping I’ll be participating in some of the demo-WODs that they’ll be doing throughout the early afternoon. I love working out with them so much! Sad to leave on Sunday!!

I am currently vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for 10 days. Thankfully, the last time I was down here I decided on a whim to search for a crossfit gym in this area, and came up with Crossfit Carteret in Beaufort, NC. I am planning on writing up a detailed review of their gym after this trip, but every experience I have had with them since has been amazing.

They are closed on Sundays and I couldn’t make it in yesterday morning, so I decided to create a little somethin’-somethin’ using bodyweight exercises that I could do in the driveway area of where I’m staying. Here is what I came up with:

5 Rounds for Time of:

30 Double Unders (exactly like jumping rope as a child, except the rope goes around twice for every one jump)

20 Air Squats (hips must go below the crease of the knees; no assistance from arms to stand up)

10 Jumping Lunges (5 on each leg, technically)

5 Strict Push-Ups (chest must make full contact with the ground before pushing back up)

1 150m Sprint (I use RunningMap to plan out the distances for all of my runs)

I didn’t think this would be all that bad. It was. The jumprope went rogue on the third round and I ended up whipping myself across the eye and cheekbone (didn’t even know that was possible), it was 89 degrees with no breeze and humid as all hell from the storm that passed through last night, and I was working out alone. These three factors all definitely impacted my results, but I finished in 19:50, and did all 25 of the push-ups in standard plank form instead of from my knees, which was actually my first time doing that in a WOD. I’m a pull-er, not a push-er, gimme a break. I am looking forward to trying this again in a month or so and seeing the difference!

Anyway, this was a pretty awesome workout. It just goes to show that even armed with nothing other than your cellphone and a jump rope you can still get a great workout in. Give it a go, try to beat my time, and let me know how you do!